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Published: April 25th 2007
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21st So, we got up. Said "Goodbye." To Martin as he's heading up to Penang in a few days (opposite way to us). Then Jo, James and us two walked about 30 metres up the road and got the Public bus to Jerantut (It cost 6RM on the bus, some people got a ticket for the same bus from their hotel - 25RM! Here, white skin = walking ATM).
At Jerantut we changed bus. During the 40 or so minutes of transition we dashed round looking for a Chinese shop. The only places that sell alcohol. No wonder Catholics call them heathons, imagine a Catholic Priest here! I've seen Father Ted. Anyway, whilst Jo was buying their beer and vodka she noticed a small dog and stroked it, thinking nothing of it. The Chinese woman looking all worried then turned to Jo and said:
"Please don't tell anyone I have a dog, if they know then I have to wash my hands 5 tmes before I can serve anyone,and then nobody will shop here."
Apparently Malaysian people see dogs as unclean. Yet they have goatsm sheep and cows walking the streets. Weirdos.
So we got the bus at
Jerantut then got dropped at some dodgy place where we stopped on the way into Taman Negara. It's basically in the middle of nowhere and loads of minibuses stop there for about an hour and try to sell you a naff buffet for 10RM. We didn't get to stop for an hour as Matt got a bit arsey when the driver suggested that our luggage went on a seperate bus to us. It just wasn't going to work that way. Full stop. So off we went to some tour operator office at the Jetty (the port that goes from the mainland to the Perhentian islands).
The rip-off attempt this time was to tell us that it was impossible to get a boat back once you got to the island, and that you had to buy a return. After wasting another half hour of our lives talking to a moron, we got our single journey tickets and were on our way.
The boat journey was very, very bumpy. Speed boats and choppy sea don'y go well together and we bounced quite a bit. Eventually we got there, landing on Long Beach, Perhintean Kecil. A beautiful tropical island in the
Matt and Leanne.
At the fishing village, where we stopped for lunch on our snorkelling trip. South China Sea. Clear blue water, great visibility. Really is the postcard picture made real.
The only trouble was finding a room. Seems lots of people turned up a few weeks earlier than tourist season begins. Even the touts were not prepared. So James and Matt went room hunting, while Leanne and Jo did whatever they did. Rooms were at 270 RM, or they were full, or they only had one room. Eventually we found one. It was a lovely little place set a bit further back up the hill, called Bintang Chalets (Formerly the Jungle Bar).
It's basically run by a nice Irish lady called Fiona who had a bar but then wanted to expand into a hotel. During low season, the Malay guy called Joe has managed to build 6 chalets and wire them up for electricity, 3 working showers, 3 working flushable toilets, fish every day for dinner and keep a snorkelling business running. Really hardworker. So everything was all new, and fresh and clean. although it still had a bit of rustic romanticism to it, and it was only 30 RM for a chalet. Plus being higher up, you get the great sea view.
Home Sweet Home.
No. 2, Bintang Chalets. So basically we just sunbathed, swam a bit, then at night we drank the rum and vodka we got at Jerrantut on our sea-view Chalet balcony with iPod music playing and just enjoyed the tropical climate at night.
22nd: Lazy day, we just sunbathed all day. After a while Leanne and I bought 2 cheap snorkel sets from the shop (the use of the word cheap is very generous here- 45RM). Matt's clip broke after about 5 minutes. But still, the 4 of us went for a snorkel. We used our OceanPacks aswell, and they kept our : cigarettes, cameras, lighters, book and everything else in them. Bone dry. Great bags.
Snorkelling we saw, Nemo's. Some soft Corals, Paret fish, Trumpet fish, White snappers, admirals and what we thought was a Stone-fish. You can't really see stone fish, you just see an eye, then you can make out a fish - just. But if you stand on one it can be fatal.
At night on the way back to the hotel James and Matt Spent ages getting a coconut down from a tree. But it wasn't quite ripe yet, the juice was nice though. Then a
bit further up the path - the chalets are kind of set back in the jungle hills you see - we saw 2 Monitor lizards mating. Because they're about 4 foot long here, people often think they're Komodo dragons. Talking to Fiona, the ones here will eat cats and small dogs if there were any, and would kill you with one bite. But only because they are so full of bacteria that it would give you a really bad infection.
Later we went for dinner and watched 'Spanglish.' with Adam Sandler in, it was okay, but not great.
23rd: Got up early and did the snorkelling trip for 30RM. Joe (that half-runs our hotel) took us to some great spots.
First stop was to see the Black-tipped reef shark. Jo and James went off and saw a few, but Matt just saw one, about 3 metres below him. So graceful when they swim, really slow, then effortlessly - they're just gone.
Being a bit worried about Leanne, Matt went back to see if she was okay. Leanne swimming looks very much like anybody else would whilst drowning.
Anyway, whilst doing a snorkel-wearing-Hasselhoff to save Leanne (who
Sunset
Coral bay. as it turns out was just fine), Matt had trouble. Above him, below him, and 360 degrees around him were jelly fish. So he just figured this is going to hurt either way, and went towards the smallest one. They really do sting aswell.
The second stop was to see a giant Green turtle. Matt swam right up to it and followed it for ages. Leanne, being lazy, got back on the boat and got a lift to where we were so she could see it again.
The only problem with following a Turtle is this: Green Turtles eat Jellyfish. So the Jellyfish hide. Following the Turtle is fine, except on the way back the jellyfish are no longer hiding. So after being stung on his shoulder, elbow, behind his knee, on his ankle and on his foot. Matt was a bit annoyed. Anti-Jellyfish ranting all the way to the next stop, and also quite scarily - shaking. It might have been minor shock as one of the buggers was about 2 foot long and about 7/8 inches wide.
Anyway, we had two other good snorkelling spots, where we saw more Nemo's, coral and various other fish,
Baby Scorpion.
On Matt's shorts. Imagine if he'd just put them on. feeding them bread out of our hands under water.
Then we stopped at Turtle beach and sunbathed for a bit and jumped off rocks (Well James and Matt did) Leanne and Jo just looked worried.
Back on our island, we sunbathed a bit then took the 1km walk through the interior jungle of the island to Coral Bay. The food was a bit cheaper there, and we saw a great sunset. On the way back we diverted back through Long Beach and got a bucket (35RM), as Matt hasn't booked a dive for tomorrow - James and Jo have and Matt's a bit jealous. (65 RM a dive, so about 10 quid). Then it was bed.
24th: Lazy day, Just sunbathed all day.
After James and Jo got back, Matt and James got a coconut down from the tree. A good one this time, with a reddish hue to it. Which means the juice isn't so good, but the flesh is nice and ripe. Opening it was a chore.
Apart from that we just ate, saw some kittens on the beach, had a go on a ropeswing and then got an early night because we're
Giant Gecko
It lived just outside our room. After taking numerous photo's, it didn't like the flash and made a loud shreak and jumped inside the window. It made Matt and James jump. all off tommorow.
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Abdul Halim
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gross exaggeration
"Malaysian people see dogs as unclean. Yet they have goatsm sheep and cows walking the streets. Weirdos"..i think this is gross exaggeration hopefully rectified by this posting